Dissecting board and head clamp



Dec. 16, 1969 J BR DISSECTING BOARD AND HEAD CLAMP 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 13, 1967 INVENTOR. JAMALABO A. BRIGGS Dec. 16, 1969 J. A. BRIGGS 3,484,096

DISSECIING BOARD AND HEAD CLAMP Filed March 13, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

JAMALABO A. BRlGGS Dec. 16, 1969 J. A. BRIGGS DISSECTING BOARD AND HEAD CLAMP 3 Sheets-Sheet I5 Filed March 13, 1967 FIGS INVENTOR.

JAMALABO A. BRiGGS United States Patent 3,484,096 DISSECTING BOARD AND HEAD CLAMP Jamalabo A. Briggs, 555 W. 107th St., New York, N.Y. 10032 Filed Mar. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 623,512 Int. Cl. A61g 13/00; A61d 3/00 11.5. Cl. 269328 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalties.

This invention generally relates to surgical dissecting boards, and more particularly to a dissecting board for use in the dissection of small laboratory animals, such as the guinea pig, rat, mouse, hamster etc. which are constantly used in hospitals research laboratories, and biology departments of educational institutions, and having many improved features over the conventionally available apparatus of this class.

An object of the invention is to provide a dissecting board having a novel head clamp structure which will hold the head firmly and enable intricate operations to be performed in the head region.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a highly versatile dissecting board which is simple in construction and may readily be manufactured for retail at reasonable cost.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout and in which:

FIGURE 1 shows from a birds eye view the elementary components of the dissecting board being utilized to mount and hold a small animal for dissection purposes.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing an even surface of the dissecting board without the head clamp.

FIGURE 3 is a birds eye view of the special head clamp which forms part of this invention.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the special head clamp with its base tilted at right angles to the horizontal.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective View of the head clamp with its rectangular base lying horizontally.

FIGURE 6 shows a longitudinal section of the special head clamp.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views in the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the numeral 4 represents a moderately dome-shaped board overlaid with a fabric of soft nylon loops 1 called Velcro Pile. The said Velcro Pile is a uniform layer covering the entire surface of the board for the dissection. The said board has either a flat level surface or a surface moderately dome-shaped sloping gradually from the centre to the sides 14. A fabric 2 of coarse nylon books 13 called Velcro Hooks has the property of making very firm grip on the soft surface of said Velcro Pile. Because of the gripping property of said Velcro Hooks on said Patented Dec. 16, 1969 Velcro Pile any desired component of the invention can easily and quickly be fastened firmly to any desired position on the surface of said dissecting board. Thus the limb anchors 2 can be moved easily and positioned firmly on any desired position at any time. Fastened to the Vel-. cro Hooks limb anchor 2 is an elastic cord 5. The other end of said elastic cord terminates with a clamp 6 which is used to secure a limb or other body portion. The type of clamp is a matter of choice and will not be referred to in detail since it does not form part of the present invention.

The head clamp is shown in detail in FIGURES 3, 4, 5, and 6, and comprises of a rectangular fabric of said Velcro Hooks 13 serving as a base to permit secure positioning anywhere on the surface of said dissecting board that is overlaid with the soft Velcro Pile 1. A rigid plastic plate 7, is permanently laminated on a nylon fabric of Velcro Hooks 13. At the centre of the plastic plate 7 is mounted two flexible plastic straps 9 with hinges 10, that can be moved up and down about a common axis 11, said plastic straps serving as the clamp ing device. Said hinged plastic straps 9 have clamping pads 12 which provide soft pressure against the head of the animal during the process of clamping. The cord 8 is non-elastic and is fixed permanently in place at one end to said flexible plastic strap 9 and terminates at the other end with a fabric of nylon hooks 13 called Velcro Hooks.

To clamp the animals head rigidly for dissection or experiments, the rigid plastic plate 7, with said Velcro Hooks thereunder, is first pressed firmly against the surface 1 of the dissecting board. The cords 8 are then pulled tight in opposite directions to each other in a cross-wise fashion so as to cause a closing together of the clamps 9. The nylon fabric 15 attached to said non-elastic cords are then pressed down with the fingers to grip firmly on the surface 1 of the dissecting board thereby creating a well secure anchoring of the flexible plastic clamps 9. In order to anchor the limbs of the animal, the clamps 6 are used to clamp the limbs while the nylon fabric of said Velcro Hooks 2 is fixed at the other end of the elastic cord 5 pulled gently, and pressed into a desired posiion on the dissecting surface 1.

The invention is an invaluable apparatus for use in research laboratories, and especially in colleges, medical schools, and universities. The Velcro materials used, consist of two all-nylon fabrics: the one is covered with coarse nylon hooks called Velcro Hooks, the other is covered with soft nylon loops called Velcro Pile. Said Velcro Pile on which the animal is laid, provides the necessary Warmth that is vital to the body and blood circulation of the live animal in the practice of animal surgery. The said Velcro materials utilized in this invention are very cheap to obtain and are so tough that they will outlast the life of the products to which they are attached. The said Velcro materials are completely washable, dry cleanable, and autoclavable.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Furthermore, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus completely and fully described the invention, what is now claimed as new is as follows:

1. A dissecting board and a head clamp apparatus for dissecting small animals, comprising in combination, a nylon fabric with soft nylon loops called Velcro Pile covering the entire surface of said dissecting board, limb anchors, each anchor comprising a nylon fabric covered with nylon hooks called Velcro Hooks as base for positioning firmly on said Velcro Pile, an elastic cord extending from each of said limb anchors a limb clamping means secured to one end of each said elastic cord, said head clamp including nylon fabric called Velcro Hooks laminated permanently to a rigid plastic plate forming the base of the head camp, two flexible plastic straps with clamping pads in their inner loops, said two plastic straps having a common axis and mounted permanently on said plastic plate so that said plastic straps can open and close with up and down movements about a common axis and serving as the clamping device, non-elastic cord fixed permanently at one end to the free end of said plastic straps, said non-elastic cords terminating at the other end with nylon fabric of said Velcro Hooks.

2. A dissecting board and head clamp apparatus for dissecting small animals, comprising of a dissecting board whose surface is permanently covered with soft nylon loops called Velcro Pile that can 'be washed, dry cleaned, and autoclaved, limb anchor, each limb anchor comprising a nylon fabric with nylon hooks called Velcro Hooks, an elastic cord fixed permanently at one end to each said nylon fabric of said Velcro Hooks and terminating at the other end with a clamp that is used to secure a limb or other body portion, a head clamp, said head clamp including, a base of rigid plastic plate which is permanently laminated on a nylon fabric having nylon hooks thereunder called Velcro Hooks," two flexible plastic straps mounted at the centre of said plastic plate and closing in toward each other when pulled in opposite directions to each other to grippingly engage a body segment of an animal therebetween, two nonelastic cords fixed permanently at 'one end to the free ends of said plastic straps and terminating at the other end with a nylon fabric having nylon hooks called Velcro Hooks, said Velcro Hooks being utilized to anchor a body segment of an animal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,548,013 4/1951 Garfield 269-328 X 2,832,313 4/1958 Toepel 119-103 3,318,597 5/1967 Briggs 269-328 3,358,141 12/1967 Hofimann 269-328 X ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner I. F. MCKEOWN, Assistant Examiner U. S. Cl. X.R. 119-103 

